We are going home.

The team of doctors would always arrive early. Since this was the first morning that I was not waking up by Mom’s side, Dad and I got up early to head over to the hospital. Peoria has this “family house” for families with members in the hospital to stay at. It is a nice building with 30 some hotel rooms. They also have laundry, shower and kitchen facilities. It is only a few blocks from the hospital and $25 a night. It is really a nice place and was a blessing to my family for many nights while we were there.

When they doctors came in they expressed how much better Mom was doing. They wanted to check a few more things, but she would probably go home that day. Excited to hear the news, my parents wanted to do something special for the staff. So Dad and I went to Wal-Mart and got cookies and cupcakes and one of those large Thank You cards. By the time we got back Mom said they had already started to put in the paperwork for her release. Dad and I started to pack things up while Mom started to write her comments in the card. She took time to recognize each nurse for their contribution. As I sat down beside her to help remember all of the nurses, I noticed her struggle with her writing. Yet we were both excited to be going home so we just ignored the obvious and kept going. Once the card was done my family went out to the nurses’ desk to give the tokens of appreciation and to thank each of them. Many of the nurses came and gave us hugs and said we would be missed but were glad we were able to go home. My Dad even made sure that the housekeeping staff got their own desserts and a thank you card. Everyone at the hospital was great. We were definitely glad to be going home, but it was sad. We became very attached to the staff. But you didn’t have to ask us twice. When the release papers were in hand we were out the door.

Before leaving I did get to talk to the physician assistant to just confirm next steps. She showed me the brain scan and said that fortunately the mass was manageable. Getting Mom started on radiation immediately was the critical next step. I asked if there was something we should have done or things we would have noticed. The PA said that many times those surviving breast cancer, the next growth area is the brain. Concerned knowing many other women who survived breast cancer and knowing that insurance is not likely to cover a brain scan we discussed strategies to get that covered. The PA also shared that her mom had breast cancer and then the mass on her brain. She explained how her Mom lived for a few years after the diagnosis of the brain tumor. She encouraged me to enjoy my time with my Mom and to know how lucky we were that the mass was still small and hopefully detected early. With these words of wisdom, I went back to the room to finishing loading things up to leave.

We all piled into the car and the first thing Mom asked is if we could stop and get ice cream. The food at the hospital wasn’t that bad, but it was the same thing over and over. So ice cream was a special treat that hit the spot for all of us. After the ice cream, Mom and I slept the way home. It was a long week.When we got home we had to go get her six different medications. Mom and I then sat there at her chair trying to write in her calendar when and how much of each medication so we could keep it all straight.

That night we were all exhausted. We barely got through the nightly news and we were all in bed. No late night conversations for Mom and I. No words were needed. We had spent the last week in a hospital trying to make sense of this all. We knew that there would be much discussion moving forward as major decisions would have to be made.  Tonight it was a time to just enjoy the fact we were at home and being able to sleep without machines and nurses. Yes, we all slept good that night.